said
Albert; "but what possessed you to set yourself up as a popular speaker
in Stuttgardt? And, above all, how could you think of quitting your
comfortable establishment in Ulm, the assiduous care of your old nurse
Sabina, and fly the vicinity of the charming Marie, to come here in the
service of the governor?"

"Ah! she it was who sent me into the jaws of death; she is the cause of
all my trouble. Ah! that I had never left my dear Ulm! All my
misfortunes began with my first step over our boundary."

"Did Marie persuade you?" Albert asked; "have you not succeeded in the
object of your desires? Has she discarded you, and did you out of
desparation--"

"God forbid! Marie is as good as my bride; that's my calamity. When you
left Ulm, I had a dispute with Mrs. Sabina, the nurse which determined
me to demand Marie's hand of my uncle. I was accepted; but, the girl's
head being completely turned by your military mania, nothing would
satisfy her but that I must first encounter the dangers and hardships
of a campaign, and become a man like you. Not until then would she
marry me. Oh, merciful Heaven!"

"So now you are formally in the field against Wuertemberg? What a bold
spirit that girl has!"

"Yes, I am in the field; I shall never in my life forget what I have
gone through! My old John and I were obliged to march with the army of
the League. What pain and trouble? often compelled to ride eight hours
a day. My dress was disordered, everything full of dust and filth; my
coat of mail squeezed me to death. I could stand it no longer; and as
old John ran back to Ulm, I asked for a place as writer on the staff,
hired a litter and two stout horses to carry my baggage, which made my
case more bearable."

"Then you were carried into the field like dogs to the hunt," said
Albert. "Have you been in an action?"

"Oh! yes; at Tuebingen, I was in the thick of it. Not twenty paces from
me a man was killed as dead as a mouse. I shall never forget the fright
I was in, if I live eighty years. After we had perfectly subdued the
whole country, I was appointed to the honourable situation of secretary
to the governor in Stuttgardt. We lived quietly, and in peace, until
the restless Duke returned once more to disturb us. Oh! had I but
followed my own wish, and joined the representatives of the League at
Noerdlingen! but I feared the fatigue of the journey."

"But why did you not depart with the governor when we arrived? He is
now quietl